If team India plans better, we have all resources to be a champion: Irfan Pathan

Former India cricketer Irfan Pathan has blamed India’s planning for not going past the semi-finals of the last year’s World Cup in England. Team India lost to New Zealand in the semi-final despite topping the points table in the league stage. They had lost only to England after 10 matches with the game against the Kiwis being washed out.

However, Irfan reckons that the team lacked proper planning in the lead up to the mega event. He also feels that the Men in Blue have all the resources up their sleeves to become a champion side but they will have to plan better ahead of the ICC events from next time.

“We need to make sure that we have better planning going into the ICC trophies, going into the World Cup. If we have better planning, we have all the resources to be a champion,” he said while speaking at Star Sports show ‘Cricket Connected’.

India struggled for proper XI before World Cup, says Irfan Pathan

India didn’t have a settled batting option at number four before the World Cup and suffered due to the same during the tournament according to many experts. Irfan Pathan also thinks the same way and also stated that India didn’t even have proper playing XI before the mega event.

“The only thing lacking is that we did not have a number four batsman just before the World Cup as well. We were struggling with having a proper eleven. If you look at the recent 2019 tournament, it was bad planning. We have resources, we have players, we have fitness, we have everything to be a world champion,” the 35-year-old, who played 120 ODIs, 29 Tests and 24 T20Is for India, added.

Earlier, even Gautam Gambhir had opined on the current Indian team’s inability to win the ICC tournament despite dominating world cricket. He felt that the side is unable to handle pressure in crucial matches. “What sets you apart from being a good player to being a very, very good player in a team squad is what you do on those crucial games.

“I think probably we have not been able to handle the pressure, probably other teams have been able to handle the pressure that way,” he had said.